Never underestimate the power of female intuition.

Token's eyes woke up to the sight of her neatly fit room with cracks around the wall. Trying to replicate the dream from before into her memory to figure out what was going on and assuming her mother got her back home safe and sound was too much for her head at the moment.

Worse, she checked her phone to see just how bad the fight affected her. Two days had passed. A quick use of the camera app showed that the bandages and gauze around her cheeks, chest, and some parts of her arm was enough to prove she needed the extra day.

Token forced herself off the bed and went over to her desk. Photos of the mother and daughter, her and Gene, Zhang and Celin with her, and one with both her parents. She slid her finger on the face of her late dad, another person she wished she could've helped.

Before she could linger on that more, she noticed a hill of homework and notes next to them.

Her mom walked into the room. Both of them getting up at five am in the morning was nothing new.

"Huh, the nurse said you'd need a few days. You sure you don't want to rest a bit more?"

She touched herself all over. The pain lingered but wasn't overwhelming. "I think I'm good." She checked her phone and while Zhang had sent her several texts, the lack of any from Gene lowered her mood. Her attention went back to her mother. "Where did all of that come from?"

"Oh, Celin brought it over."

She sprung up. "He did?" A funny look from the older Verse left her looking away. "I mean, how considerate. It looks like a lot, hope he didn't hurt himself to bring it."

Tulip's mother had a curious smile on her face. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"I, well," attempting to misdirect her mother's ability to figure her out, "well Celin, Zhang, Gene, the four of us are in the same class now."

"Ah, good, good. It was so nice to see him again and Zhang. Why did you and Gene stop hanging out with those two anyway, the four of you were so close."

Token spent the next couple of minutes explaining Gene's semi-convoluted popularity strategy: stringing along one guy to present herself as undesirable and attract a plethora of men, form a plan to disrupt the Alphabets's reign over the school and her sanity, use her best friend to keep up in school to focus on her petty ambition.

"That doesn't matter, just invite them over. Well, at least when I get that bonus and we could put this house back in order. Couldn't she just compete with the other rich blonde girl for Instagram followers or something?"

"Mom, Alpha probably doesn't care and neither do I. Only famous people and influencers use Insta for stuff like that, pretty sure everyone else just posts to post."

"Huh, I swear some girl got really popular doing that. Or was it Tik Tok?"

"Yeah, by stealing another black girl's dances."

"Ah, Bring it On!"

"I'm pretty sure Gene has wanted to punch her face in for the longest time."

"No, not that. It's a movie that came out just a few years before you were born. A white girl finds out her cheerleading team was stealing routines from a team of black cheerleaders."

"And got away with it?"

Tulip shook her head. "She went through a lot, but ultimately decided to do the right thing and come up with her own cheer. They came in second but they earned her respect. They just don't make those movies like they used to."

"Well at least she learned her lesson in the end. I don't think I could forgive them."

Tulip sighed. "You know, being in this job is hard. You gotta deal with people who might be losing loved ones, domestic cases, conflict, your own people doing things behind your back. It's not easy, ya know?"

"Yeah, everyone's got some evil in them."

"Well that's true. But everyone's got good in them too. They just need to have the will to use it. And life ain't easy for some people."

What the woman told her in that dream led her to ask. "They just have to find the power in them, right?"

She nodded. "Right. Anyone's capable of coming back from a bad mistake. It's just a lot of work for those people to do so."

Token sighed. "I hope so. Oh yeah, any leads on the disappearances?"

"Well," worried, "that's what I wanted you to talk about. Nine people went missing the other day."

"What?! Including the guy from school?"

Her mother nodded. "An entire patronage of a pizza place on the other side of town went missing the night I went to pick you up."

She took some time to process that. "Anyone else from the school was there?"

Tulip shook her head. "For now, no. There was only one camera. Looked like three entered the bathroom, and there were a few more buying pizza. Next thing, the screen goes black, and suddenly everyone there is gone. No fingerprints or anything. Even the lead we had disappeared."

"Lead?"

"A strand of blond hair. But when we went over to one of the other cities with a better research team, the strand just was gone. I told them not to mess around but they claimed they didn't touch after putting it away," scratching her chin. "It's all too uncommon."

Token processed the hair part, assuming it had something to do with whoever was responsible.

"I'll help you figure it out," with a driving force in her voice.

"No, take it easy, for now, just rest and take it easy."

"Hey, I'll end up helping you with cases anyway when I become a-"

"Absolutely not!" Tulip projected with steadfast concern. "We talked about this!"

"I'm not gonna do anything crazy. And I want to do criminal defense! This town has enough promise as it is, and if these cases are like the ones in other cities, there's gonna be a connection."

Tulip sighed. "Even if that's the case, you're not a member of the Scooby Gang and this isn't some weirdo in a costume. You can barely protect yourself, what if you find the culprit?"

"Then I won't engage, I'll let you know. What if there's someone in the school who knows something," trying not to think too hard, but keeping some thoughts in her dreams she had trying to figure out what was going on. "I won't just investigate something and get myself killed! Come on mom," almost pleading with the request of support. "I just wanna see if there's something up and leave the lifting to you, okay?"

Tulip took a breather. "Okay, but be discreet about it. This is already putting people on edge, and I want you to be safe."

"Yeah yeah," Token yawned. "Even you think I'm too weak to do anything."

"T, I didn't say that."

"Just like how weak dad was. Guess the apple doesn't fall from the tree there."

Tulip walked over with enough force that could shatter the wooden tiles underneath the carpet. Token expected a stern lecture only for her mother to kneel down to her.

"I never saw him or you that way. You two are my strongest guns in this life, but there's evil out there that can't be stopped with just bullets. And I already lost one of you. The sooner me and the others can figure this out, the sooner we end that evil from robbing you of your power. And maybe one day we can find the person who robbed your dad of his."

Token looked up. "Mom, what exactly is my strength?"

Tulip pointed to three sections of her body. Her head, her heart, and her chest.

"You haven't lost what you wanted to do, or your heart. And you don't give up without a fight. So think smart and keep that goal alive. I'll make sure you're able to live to see it, okay?"

Token nodded. "Mhmm."

"That's my girl," giving her another hug. Token reciprocated for a bit and the two embraced.

"But seriously," Tulip pulled away. "Just be careful at school."

"Don't worry, the kids at school barely know or care about me. They'll forget my fifteen seconds of fame easily."

"No, not that. I mean, yesterday, the police departments and the counties all agreed that all the leaders in these districts should issue an early curfew. We announced it on the tv station last night with the mayoral candidates agreeing, but I don't think your peers aren't too eager on that."

She showed her a recording of some reactions on the local news from concerned parents with students of different school levels, and the attitudes from the students ranged from apathetic to anger.

"Great, now I can't smoke a joint with the boys. Hey, get those cameras away from me," running while another cop was chasing him. "You're not getting anything from me, snitches get stitches!"

"Why did he say that with a camera in front of him?"

"School's stressful enough, I don't want to deal with this."

"Great, so we're graduating and now we can't even relax at night? Just capture this guy already, aren't you pigs good and catching and hunting people down?"

"You're with the police department. I see more weed smoking than actually solving this case."

Token had enough and paused the video. "Okay, I see your point. That was rough."

"I can't blame them. I just want to find this psycho so you all don't have to worry."

"But be careful at school. You don't need any more injuries." Tulip started pondering how to keep her safe. "Maybe I should've snuck a taser from the office for that, that other branch has much more tech than we do," speeding up her words with increasingly risky thoughts that worried her daughter.

"Mom," exasperated, "don't do anything that'll get you fired. I'll be okay," having a plan and taking her hand. "If something happens, I'll text and call you immediately."

Tulip took a deep breath. "Okay, okay okay. I need to head out early," rushing out and back in, handing her a plate of breakfast. "Try not to overwork, if you can't finish the teacher complains, go to Yang, me and him go way back," giving her a kiss on her forehand. "Stay strong my angel."

Token promised she would, did her best to get the workload done, took a break when it got too much for her head, then set out to let the warm air and slight breeze give her head some balance until she arrived at school. A sunset at 7pm would probably harm some people, but it could work out. Optimism was the key to surviving this.

Unfortunately when she was walking into the main hall, different cliques and groups each had their eyes on her, each group with their own thoughts and opinions.

"Hey, ain't that the girl who punched that chick in the beret?"

"Heard she's also the child of that stupid cop."

"Yeah but her friend is hot, don't hurt her. I wanna see if I can score."

"She doesn't look too good. Maybe y'all should leave her alone.

Token was very aware of what was going on. Then a foot stuck out right in front o her. She could tell what was going to happen next, and slowly stopped herself before slowly "tripping" onto the girl's leg and slowly falling down. Minimizing the pain, she "struggled" to get up while hearing laughter and snickering.

Having experience with the actual pain, she let out a crying scream of pain and agony loud enough that she honestly believed she was getting hurt. Ironically, it helped that Dawn, Echo, and Carolyn beat her down repeatedly until Gene showed up, giving her the door to revisit that mental and physical wounds with her headache.

She heard Mr. Yang came out and asked everyone what was going on, forcing the group that tripped her and the other bullies to run and escape before getting into any more trouble. Yang chased after them, but went to help her up.

"Those bandages, you still haven't healed. Are you sure you should be back here?"

"It's just a small migraine, plus I have all this work to finish up."

"Take as much time as you need. If you need any assistance, let me know. Now, if you'll excuse me," rushing off, "get back here you mongrel."

Token smiled, adjusting her glasses. He was strict, but had a good heart.